What makes an alpha version of software successful

nivix

Hi Guys,

First of all, I love Flarum. I was a fan of the simplicity and beauty of esotalk, and have been watching the progress of Flarum for quite some time. It has the simplicity that esotalk had, but with a new elegant flair.

To the developers of this great product, I am curious -- how did you create such a successful alpha? How did you determine what core features to release at alpha, and what will constitute a "beta" change?

I want to release an invitation-only alpha version of a personal project, but I have trouble determining what features to build for the alpha and which features to build for the beta.

Your input would be greatly appreciated!

staion

nivix Flarum is in BETA, not ALPHA...

Dexter

staion ?

clarkwinkelmann

For me, it's a bit like this:

Alpha: the software is useless or can't be understood/used by anybody. Test with a small group of really interested people
Beta: the software is incomplete or buggy, but can already be used by the target public. Test with a bigger group of users or go public

For example my project ZetaMode (an online game) is in alpha because we are still missing a bunch of core features and some more advanced features are still under considerations. It's totally useless and not really fun at the moment.

Once all features are added and the game will actually become playable, we will open it to more users. That's where we will test our concept "under load". This part would be the beta.

Stable would be the public & user friendly version. And of course as bug-free as possible.

But in the end, you give it the name you want ? You can call it beta right from the start if you want.

You should probably not plan your features based on alpha & beta. These are just honorific names for your milestones that you will choose based on how quick/well your implementation goes.